A Second Chance
by The Spork Warrior
Summary: After waking up from what felt like a coma, Lea, Lumaria, Relena, and Isa begin trying to get their lives back – but it's been a long time, and some things simply aren’t right in the worlds – and Isa knows it’s all their fault. No longer pilot/teaser!


**Title**: A Second Chance (tentative)  
**Author(s)**: The Spork Warrior and anonymous (later, if continued)  
**Rating**: PG  
**Pairings**: Currently undecided  
**Warnings**: Possible spoilers, cursing, AU, likely will be shonen ai/yaoi/slash if continued, etc

**A/N**: With the release of Lea and Isa's home world, some of my plans were dashed – however, the name Isa itself actually has given me some hope. SO. This fic is most certainly on the AU side because of BbS, as Lea and Isa are from Agrabah, and we have Marluxia and Larxene from Wonderland. They're the only ones that matter right now. Onward!

* * *

He had thought it would hurt, returning to nothing. He had thought that as the shadows consumed him he would be pulled to pieces – after all, his body had been disintegrating. But he felt nothing. No pain, no discomfort. Nothingness, he decided, was worse than pain. At least when he hurt he could pretend to be real, but when you feel absolutely nothing...

Well, it was easy to just say that it was disconcerting. Time was nothing; it could have been seconds; it could have years. He couldn't decide if being nothing was the same as being dead. He hoped it wasn't. There wasn't anything that he could think of worse than how he was at that moment, just floating in the darkness.

Fleetingly, he wondered if the others had experienced the same thing – was being nothing his own personal hell, or was it simply how things worked? There was no telling, he knew, but what did it really matter? He was as good as dead, and so were they.

For a moment, he wondered where everything had gone wrong. Wondered about how – hell, about _why_ – he had decided to join the Organization. If he could have sighed, he would have. Memories of the past, from before he was in the Organization, before he was Axel, before he was even a Nobody – from when he was little Lea came unbidden and a lingering dissatisfaction with how things had turned out mingled with the images. There was little doubt that life had dealt him and Asï a lousy hand, but that it would become like this… But what was done was done, and there was little use dwelling on the past.

But what else was there to think about? He was just a floating nothing in a vast, empty darkness. If he didn't hang on to those first few, happy memories, Axel was sure he really _would_ dissolve into nothing.

'_Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!'_ With every syllable, a cloud of dust erupted from where the small red-haired boy's heavy, running footfalls fell. His hair was tangled and long, matted in places and grimy. His thin, sun-baked face held bright, lively green eyes – though at that very moment they were panicked and frantically looking for an escape from certain doom. Behind him, and catching up quickly, ran a palace guard, just as intent on catching the orphaned boy as he was to escape his more-than-likely very bad, soon to come fate.

It wasn't as if he had hurt anyone; after all, a kid's gotta eat and if someone happens to leave their dinner unattended – well it becomes fair game and Lea wasn't going to go another night without food.

How was he to know that it was the Lady Fatima's afternoon meal? Or that taking the food of the nobility was a crime punishable by death?

'You live and learn, or you don't live long!' Lea found himself thinking as he dodged an attempted grab by the guard by leaping over a barrel (which was promptly knocked to the ground by the man's rush to get by), 'Here's hoping that I've got a nice, long life ahead of me!' While the guard seemed to be unfazed by the chase, Lea was rapidly tiring – an after-effect of having not eaten in three days, he figured, but that didn't change how frustrating it was to not be able to shake his pursuer. The best he could do was stay just out of his reach, and even that was becoming difficult.

His awareness of his surroundings was fading faster and faster with every step. There was no helping it, and Lea knew he couldn't keep up running forever. It didn't take a genius to know that he was outmatched, but he hadn't expected the abrupt end to his frenzied sprint – a wrong turn had him stumbling, sliding on the sand-covered road and falling to the ground in front of a tall wall. If he could just catch his footing he knew he could make it over the wall, but he only had a moment to scramble to his hands and knees before the guard was upon him.

A single hand was all it took to lift the thin, emaciated boy from the ground, and almost no force at all was needed to toss him against the wall barely a moment later. Lea felt the crack as his shoulder connected first with the solid surface; it hurt something fierce, but the sudden welling panic over-ruled any other emotion - 'I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. He's gonna cut my hands off and I'm gonna die.' It was the end of the line, and the young boy was afraid of what fate he had brought down on his head. All he could do was cower, there in the dirt, his hands instinctively coming to cover his head as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

'Maybe he'll feel sorry for me.' It was the only hope he had; but somewhere, he knew better. He knew that no one would pity another starving orphan, no matter how young they might be. Especially not one as scrawny and mangy as the 7 year old Lea. 'I just had to take that meat. But Allah, does it smell good! What a way to go! Killed for a taste of lamb!' His eyes were closed tight, tears starting to fall down sun-kissed cheeks, and he almost missed the words the guard tossed his way.

"Boy!" He was barely out of breath, "You are a thief, and thieves are to receive no quarter from the Sultan's men. Your puni-"

"Sir!" The new voice that interjected was male, young, and crisp. There was a childishness to it, but the boy's tone boasted no argument, and the guard paused just long enough for the newcomer to continue his interjected statement. Lea would have looked up at the owner of the voice, but he was hesitant to reveal his face – in case the guard decided it would make a good hitting bag. "Sir, I will vouch on his behalf and take any punishment you intend for him!"

The guard was silent for a long moment, and Lea was tempted to glance at the two – but fear won out and his green eyes remained tightly closed and hidden. Finally, the guard broke the silence, "And why would you offer to do that for this… boy?"

"Because I can see him, sir."

This time, Lea did look up. It was the first time anyone had stood up for him, and Lea at least wanted to know the face of his attempted rescuer before the guard inevitably ignored him and proceeded to gut the little thief. The other boy was older than him – probably only a few years, but old enough to not look like a little kid. He had pale blue hair, not far passed the shoulder, pulled back into a low pony-tail, and Lea thought he could make out golden eyes beneath the older boy's fringe. His skin was darker than his own, and he was obviously better fed and slightly better dressed. Lea couldn't place at all why he had intervened.

The words were strange, and didn't really make sense to the cowering boy. Of course the other boy could see him – he didn't look blind. Besides, it's not like there was much to see. Lea wasn't a fool. Young, but not a fool – you couldn't be, living the way he did. He knew what people saw when they looked at him – a dirty, useless little orphaned brat that's only a hindrance and an eyesore. So what could he possibly mean? Lea doubted that being able to see him was a good thing.

He took a chance to glance at the guard's face, a perfect reflection of deep thought. Whatever the newcomer meant must have had some effect on the guard, though what that was remained a mystery to the boy. Slightly emboldened by the attention, Lea allowed his eyes to meet the guard's – though only for a fleeting moment, as the intense look made the youth shiver and glance back towards the other boy. Whatever he had meant, his would-be punisher seemed to be pondering over it.

After what felt like ages, the guard raised a hand and beckoned the older boy towards him. "Come here."

With no hesitation, the newcomer stepped forward, and Lea watched the way he walked. Despite not being much older, he held himself proudly and strongly and the much smaller Lea couldn't help but to be a little awed by him. When he stopped, he stood straight, his slim shoulders held back and his pose confident. Lea's awe increased, and despite his fright at his situation, his eyes were held firmly to that confident form.

The guard, it seemed, was just as impressed with him as Lea was. There was a small smile on the guards face, pleased looking. "Kneel before the boy, and you may take a punishment in his stead."

Lea jolted. "No!" He hadn't meant to say it aloud; he should have just let things play out, but he couldn't let someone who hadn't even done anything actually take the fall for him. He made to move, to get between the guard and the other boy, but he only managed to get to his knees before the blue-haired boy was kneeling, one hand gently pushing Lea back into a sitting position. A very small smile was on his face, and Lea was overcome with guilt. "Please, I'll take whatever punishment! Don't do this, I'm not worth it!"

The hand squeezed reassuringly, for just a moment, before it was removed and the boy turned back to the guard and the punishment that should have been the thief's. "Whatever you deem necessary, sir, I will accept." The words were calm, not at all frightened, and Lea clutched at the back of the other boy's shirt, his fear no longer for himself but for the stranger that was willing to put his own safety in jeopardy.

The guard took out his scimitar, and while Lea felt a shiver move through his body, the other boy remained still and collected. For a long moment, they all looked at each other – Lea and the guard both had their gazes fixed on the boy, and the boy's eyes were on the guard. The guard finally broke the silence, "First, tell me your name."

"Isa, sir."

"Just 'Isa'?"

There was a moment's hesitation, "… yes."

"Very well." And with no more words, the guard slashed his sword across Isa's face, once, twice.

That had been the first time he had met Isa, his friend who would later become the Nobody Saïx. Axel wondered if Saïx was meeting this same fate, or if those released by the Keyblade met a different one? Not that it really mattered; Axel knew that he'd never see Saïx again. Knew that Lea and Isa were as good as dead, too. There was no use dwelling on anything, even if that's all he had left. Soon, they would all only be vague memories.

He had always been astounded by the boy that Saïx had been when they were human. Strength, confidence, self-assurance all radiated from him – and yet he had remained pure and kind. Lea had been so impressed with him and so grateful that he had marked his own face to honour Isa's scar – a scar that the little boy Axel had once been felt responsible for. Despite being so long ago – he knew it must have been nearly thirty years since that first meeting – Axel found himself wondering what life would have been like had they never become Nobodies, if they had been able to continue the life they had all had before.

Lea and Isa became friends quickly, and Axel knew his Somebody never would have survived if it hadn't been for the other. There was never any doubt about that fact, even after they had joined the Organization.

Where ever Isa was, Lea was sure to follow, and it wasn't unusual for the two to be ducked somewhere, speaking in fast whispers and plotting their next adventure. Lea was never caught stealing again, though this wasn't because he stopped. No, he simply had an easier time of it.

Even when, years later, they met the strange siblings from Wonderland, Isa and Lea shared something of a symbiotic relationship. Lumaria and Relena had been insane, but the two young men from Agrabah had been entertained, if not terrified, by them. A little part of Axel couldn't help but fleetingly wonder what had become of Marluxia and Larxene after they were destroyed. It didn't particularly bother him that he was indirectly responsible for what happened to them, though he was sad that their deaths meant the end of Lumaria and Relena as well.

The fire-wielder shoved those thoughts away. Sure it was nice to dream – but really, he was floating in endless darkness wondering about things that wouldn't help him at all. '_Maybe,_' Axel thought, '_there's a way out of here. There's a way out of everything._' Reminiscing was a lovely thing when you were on your death bed – but he wasn't exactly certain he was dead. He was under the impression that Nobodies, lacking a heart, just ceased to exist. But he was coherent. Incorporeal, but coherent.

'So maybe instead of floating around here being depressed, I should try to figure out how to get out of this emptiness,' Axel would have smirked, had he had lips, 'There's not much worse than this.'

So he willed his consciousness – or whatever it was that made him Axel – to move through the darkness. After all, directed floating, even if there's no real clue as to what's in the direction you may head, is better than calmly going with the flow. Axel had never been one to go with the flow.

There was a sudden brightness. A jolt, and suddenly he could see around himself for just a moment. But it was long enough. He saw his arms and legs. He saw light streaming in from all sides. He saw Sora with his Keyblade surrounded by Heartless, and before Axel could really grasp what he was seeing, one of the hearts that flew from a fallen Heartless hit him square in the chest.

Everything fell into darkness again. Everything. Axel was gone.

* * *

**A/N**: I may continue this. If I do, it'll be written with another person – we may alternate chapters. Feedback is requested; it'll be what keeps me writing this. If it is continued, it'll be for the long haul. I've outlined later chapters already and played with some ideas – now the ball is in you, the reader's, court. Will you hit it back?


End file.
